


Echo

by shezni



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-02
Updated: 2013-08-02
Packaged: 2017-12-22 04:06:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/908700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shezni/pseuds/shezni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A lonely Scout Master turns on his radio and is consumed by thoughts of his first love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Echo

              He would hear his voice on the radio every day at the same time without fail. By the time the daily broadcast was on air, Earl had finished his duties as Scout Master. It was a trying position, and some days were worse than others. On especially hard days, when he’d lose more than one child, he would sit at home with a cup of warm tea and let the Voice of Night Vale wash over him, removing the stress from his weary aching bones. He’d always known Cecil’s soothing voice would do him good one day. Earl had loved to hear him talk, even when they were younger, mere students trying to survive the perils of Night Vale’s high school. Sometimes, when Cecil gave a presentation for a class, Earl would sneak into the room and listen, enraptured by his warm, musical speech. He had loved it when Cecil would speak to him between classes, though he could usually only manage a brief hello before the hall crows swooped overhead threateningly, hurrying them to their respective classes. He had loved when Cecil would tell him the various secrets of their classmate’s after school, leaning in close and murmuring the various bits of dirty laundry to avoid detection from the teachers. He had especially loved how Cecil said his name when he wrapped his arms around him, rocking side to side and nuzzling his head in the crook of Earl’s neck. And even as much as he loved his voice, it was only a fraction of how much he loved the one who spoke. Perhaps it was simply an immature young love, destined to live and die within the halls of high school, but back then, and even now, it was enough.

               Earl didn’t hear Cecil outside of the radio much these days. He never felt like he could approach him. He wouldn’t even begin to know what to say. He’d been to college and traveled to Europe and was so very _educated_ , and here he was, same old Earl with a dusty Earth Science degree from the community college and twelve pairs of khaki shorts. He’d trying his luck in love since then, but nothing ever panned out. His dates tended to die, mysteriously vanish, or be put off by his less-than-fashionable wardrobe. He simply listened to his radio alone in his ranch house full of cactuses and boxes of scout medals. It didn’t even matter now. A new scientist had come into town, and Cecil was more enthralled by him than he had probably ever been by anyone, the solitary Scout Master included. Earl wasn’t bitter (or at least he didn’t try to be). He still had the echoes of Cecil’s loving voice in his memories, and he’d be damned if he let those go. 


End file.
